Goodbye, Charlie
by EmmaD14
Summary: Edward is in the hospital waiting for news of his father-in-law with only his sleeping daughter for company. He hopes that Charlie holds on in time for Bella to say goodbye. How is he supposed to explain this to his little princess? ONE-SHOT.


**Disclaimer - I don't own Twilight or the characters.**

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The hospital was quiet apart from the numerous beeps of heart monitors and other medical equipment but other than that it was quiet. It probably had something to do with the fact that it was early hours of the morning and everyone was asleep or trying to be quiet. Edward was probably one of the only visitors and probably the only person who was awake who wasn't working.

Edward was sat in a deserted corridor, his daughter sat snoozing next to him. She leant into his side and he held onto her, stroking her shoulder lightly. Edward contemplated sleep but thought against it knowing he was too tense. So he just sat trying to think of what to say when Bella got there, the phone call he had received from her had made him want to reach out and hold her as tight as possible to stop the pain that was so evident in her voice.

Edward saw the doctors walking towards him and he braced himself for the worst.

"Hello, I am Doctor Winters and this is Doctor Richards," Edward stood up, carefully placing Nessie on his seat so she wasn't jostled, and shook both of their hands out of politeness, "are you Mr Swan's next of kin?"

"No, I'm his son-in-law, his daughter, my wife, and his wife will be here as soon as possible. Are you able to tell me anything?" He wanted them to tell him so he could make sure Bella was ready for whatever news it was.

"Unfortunately we can't tell you much at the moment, all we know is that his heart failed and he is now having trouble breathing. We will run tests but we want you and your family to prepare for the worst." That wasn't what he wanted hear, but you almost never hear good news when in the hospital at 2 a.m. on a Saturday morning.

They walked away from him and he dropped into a chair, not his original one since Nessie was splayed over it sleeping in blissful ignorance, and put his hands over his face in true despair. What was he going to tell Bella? She had been spending a well earned spa weekend with her best friends Rosalie and Alice, this wasn't how here little holiday was supposed to end. Sue, Charlie's wife, had been visiting her daughter, Leah, Charlie was meant to go with her but hadn't felt well. This wasn't supposed to happen.

Charlie and Edward had started off on the wrong foot, but what father liked their daughter's boyfriend. No matter how awesome and polite the boyfriend was. But he had warmed up to him after the birth of Nessie since he couldn't say bad things about Edward in front of her because she would shout at him, which he learnt when he mentioned how he didn't used to like Edward a few months ago. And Charlie liked him because he could make Bella smile and laugh even when she was ill or hurting. They had grown a mutual agreement that they were both okay guys and every now and again they would watch the game and hang out, he was a great man. He had so much life left, it just wasn't fair.

Edward sat like that for a long time and would have sat like that for a lot longer if he hadn't felt a hand on his back, it was a big hand obviously not his wife's but he looked up anyway. Seth, Charlie's step son was stood there, he looked as messed up as me.

"Mum rang me. It's bad isn't it?" Seth had always been like a little brother to Edward, they were friends and Edward looked after him.

"Yeah, Seth it's bad." Seth looked close to tears and Edward held onto him, trying to make him know that everything would be okay, when it wouldn't be. Charlie had helped bring Seth up, Sue had married Charlie when Seth was only seven. Charlie was the only dad he remembered.

After a few minutes Seth pulled away and wiped his eyes, "I'm gonna go find some food or something." Edward let the younger man leave, knowing that he needed to be alone. This was all messed up.

Edward sat in silence for a few more minutes before he felt another hand on his shoulder, patting him ever so lightly, this time the hand was very small. He looked over to see his sleepy little girl, he wrapped her up in his arms and she put her head on his shoulder falling back to sleep. Edward wished he could sleep and dream away this nightmare.

One of the doctors from before came over to Edward at 3, "Sir, I'm afraid that there is nothing that we can do for your father-in-law, it's time to say goodbye."

"No!" Edward shouted a little too loud for the silent hospital, "It's just his daughter isn't here yet, she has to say goodbye."

"I'm sorry, sir." He motioned for Edward to follow him. Just as they were about to exit the corridor onto another corridor Sue, Seth and Leah came rushing towards them. They saw his stricken face and seemed to know what was going on. Sue almost fell but Seth kept her upright Leah started to cry hysterically. Leah's husband came around the corner next and seeing what was happening ran forward to hold his wife, her crying went quieter.

Edward wanted to explain but found that his mouth was dry and he felt like his lips were sewn together. Thankfully the doctor spoke, "Are you Mr Swan's wife, Miss?" Sue nodded from Seth's arms, "Mrs Swan, I am afraid-"

"NO!" Sue interrupted the doctor and looked terrified.

The doctor seemed used to the outburst and hardly even flinched, he continued with his sentence, "There is nothing else we can do for your husband, it's time time to say goodbye."

The doctor yet again motioned for us to follow, we were a slow procession behind him but we finally made it to the door. The doctor opened it and there they saw a frail broken Charlie Swan, they took their time saying goodbyes and left to give Sue time to say her final goodbye. Edward prayed that he would hold on for Bella to get there. He decided not to wake Nessie, the way her Grandpa looked would upset and confuse her.

It was around 4 when Edward's beautiful wife appeared, she had red eyes and tears falling down her already wet cheeks. Edward opened his arms and she ran into them, hiding her in his neck. Rosalie and Alice followed her, both looking a little worse for wear, they had known Charlie for a lot longer than Edward had. Edward shook his head at them to tell him that the news wasn't good. Seth should them to the room so they could say goodbye, thankfully Charlie seemed to be holding on for his little girl.

"Bella," Bella knew from the tone of her husbands voice that it wasn't good, if she was honest she had known ever since she had gotten the phone call from the hospital, "he's waiting for you, do you want me to go in with you?" Bella shook her head as she sobbed.

"No, I have to do this on my own." Edward walked her to the room just as Alice and Rosalie left.

"I'll be right here." Edward said as Bella walked in the room, he heard her sob loudly but stopped himself from entering, knowing she needed to say goodbye on her own. He slid to the ground and held his head yet again.

"Dude, she woke up, she's scared." Edward looked up to see Seth holding his daughter's hand, "I'll leave you to explain." Nessie climbed onto Edward's lap and looked up at her daddy.

"Why are you crying, daddy? Why is everyone crying?" She scrunched her pretty face up as she tried to figure out what was happening, Edward stroked her face lightly to try and calm her down.

"Baby, we are crying because Grandpa Charlie is very poorly." Nessie looked at her hands and then looked at her daddy's sad face, wondering why everyone was so upset at him being poorly, she got poorly loads of times.

"But he'll be better soon." She said the statement with confidence and Edward hated having to tell her differently.

"I'm afraid not, princess. You see some times you get so poorly that your body can't get better." He saw her frown and look at him with shock.

"Is he going to die?" She sounded heartbroken. Her only reference to death was her pet hamster, but she knew that once you died you could no longer see them anymore. She didn't want her grandpa to die. And from the looks of it nobody else did.

"Yes, baby, he is." Edward hugged his daughter's small frame tightly.

"I don't want him to die. It's not fair!" She cried because she liked spending time with her grandpa, she liked fishing with him even though she fell in once, she liked it when he played teacher with her and helped her line her teddy bears up and as she called their names he would say "present, Miss Cullen" in weird, funny voices that always made her laugh. She loved her grandpa and didn't want him to go away.

"I know, princess, I know." He wanted to make his little girl smile, "hey remember when Grandpa Charlie tried to cook and the cookies bounced higher than you," she nodded, "and got you that bike last year and sat on it and it broke." She laughed at this one, even though at the time she cried. "Princess, grandpa might be going away, but you'll always have him and you'll never forget him and how much he loves you."

"I still want him to stay." She sniffed.

"Me too, but he can't because we all have a time when we have to go. And it's hard but grandpa wouldn't want you to cry, he didn't like to see his precious little girl crying." Edward wiped Nessie's eyes gently and kissed her forehead, "and whenever you feel upset you can talk to him because even though we can't see him, I think that he can see us and hear us and he can help us."

They sat there until Bella came out, "he's gone." She slid down the wall and leant into Edward's side. Neither of them spoke, Edward just put his arm around her shoulder and held onto his two girls.

'I'll keep them safe, Charlie, I promise.' He thought and he would keep the promise till his dying breath.

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